Lama Kung Fu is a system that comes from Lama Pai (a.k.a. "Lion's Roar", "Hop Gar" and "Hsia Chia"). A Chinese monk named "Chan Tai San" moved to the U.S. to teach Lama Pai. He moved to the U.S. and taught, but his classes remained small because he had trouble with Enlgish. He had 3 students (Stephen Innocenzi, Steve Ventura and David A. Ross) that understood the art and took on the task of reorganizing and modernizing the Lama Pai system. After they were finished in 1992, they began to refer to it as "Lama" because they felt it was unique.

First they reorganized the sequence of techniques and skills so they start with the simplest and progress at a realistic rate. A big emphasis was put on basics and adding more techniques to the basics. They then increased the number of 2 person drills and exercises for general conditioning of blocking and intercepting timing. Finally, they examined the condtioning exercises to include modern science and to make them safer and easier. An big emphasis was placed on keeping the traditional techniques and ideas there, but reorganizing it.